


he can't be what you need (if he's eighteen)

by orphan_account



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, M/M, can i get away with saying its humor, im so sorry sweetie i didnt mean it, is this funny at all, literally nothing happens, thats a lie felix is literally only mentioned once and they call him a fucker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-30 23:26:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15761895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: hyunjin does some questionable things sometimes, and at first changbin thought he was just annoyed - but over time he realised that feeling was jealousy.





	he can't be what you need (if he's eighteen)

**Author's Note:**

> have you listened to girls by the 1975? no? please do it's a bop and also it's the inspiration for my title (a bit tweaked but whatever)

  _Junior Year - Summer before Senior Year_

 

    Hyunjin had an attitude big enough for at least three people, which made it increasingly difficult for his friends to be able to keep up with him and his antics.

 

    If he wasn’t at home ignoring everyone’s messages, he was sitting on the curb ranting to either Changbin or one of his other friends about how tyrannical his parents were. Even though they weren’t, it was clear Hyunjin just wasn’t used to being told that sometimes he was just … too much.

 

    For most, the looming shadow of September meant the start of university was just around the corner. Soon, afternoon ice cream cones would stop melting and the sun would set before 10 pm, signalling the start of a fresh school year. The mere thought of it made Hyunjin overwhelmed and a bit frustrated - he even took it far enough to rip his mother’s stupid floral calendar off the door of their crappy fridge while she was standing in the same room. It felt satisfying to see it on the floor, although it really wouldn’t change anything.

 

This would be his first year at school without Changbin.

 

Changbin’s graduation was a big reality check, and it definitely helped in his distaste for school. He and Hyunjin knew each other since high school first started and he was convinced the younger boy was actually his elder. Finding out that it was the opposite was the biggest shock for him he nearly couldn’t believe it. Everytime they hung out, he felt like he relied on Hyunjin to keep him entertained, and the other boy never disappointed.

 

    During the week, Hyunjin would drag him along to any college party he was somehow invited to, and on the weekends the two of them would skate around the neighborhood until someone called bylaw on them for being too noisy. Sometimes they would stay out so late on Sundays, they would just sleep over at each other’s houses and go to school the next morning together. Hyunjin’s uniform was almost always wrinkled, his shirt only partially tucked into his dress pants. Despite looking the way it did, he ruthlessly made fun of Changbin’s uniform for being steamed and dry-cleaned.

 

It's been awhile since he had to wear that uniform ; the navy blue blazer with pants to match and a bland, skinny red tie to _tie_ it all together. It’s been hanging in his closet like a dead weight, enclosed in a dry-cleaning bag and stuffed to the back of his hangers.

 

The blazer pockets were lined with a collection of pins, all courtesy of Hyunjin and his hoarding addiction. His mom took them all off at the end of the year, though - dumping the handful on Changbin’s messy desk before she took it in for it’s final cleaning.

“Shit, man.” Hyunjin said, looking at the small pile. “I don’t even remember giving you some of these.” He skimmed his fingertips over the pins, grinning crookedly. “You’ll keep them, right?”

 

Changbin shrugged and contemplated what to do with them for a hot second before scooping them into his desk drawer, leaving one on the table top.

 

It had a tiny picture of a shocked looking kitten, sitting above a caption that read “ _lesbians eat what?!_ ”

 

Changbin had been there when Hyunjin bought that one, at Hot Topic of all places, nearly pissing himself in the checkout line as Changbin fought to keep him upright. It doesn’t look great when you’re standing in line with a hysterical teenager who’s yelling ‘ _pussy! It means pussy!_ ’ while laughing his ass off.

 

He slid it across the table towards his friend, watching his expression. Hyunjin’s grin widened and he picked it up, immediately pinning it to his oversized vans t-shirt. He nodded, satisfied with his placement, then looked down at Changbin in his chair. “Sick.”

 

About an hour later, they’re sitting in front of Changbin’s box tv, playing Monkey Ball on his bright orange Gamecube. Hyunjin won’t stop cheating and bumping into him (in the game _and_ in real life) but Changbin’s never been good at this game ever since it was actually on the shelves, so he lets his little monkey avatar get reemed off the side of the course.

 

Plus, he likes the joy it emits from Hyunjin. The bright laugh that moves his entire body. That’s just between you and him, though.

 

At the end of their most recent course, Hyunjin puts his controller down on the bed next to him and stretches his arms out. “Do you have anything to eat?”

 

Changbin squints. “You hungry?”

 

“What was your first clue? Me asking you if you had any food or..”

 

“Do you want to eat or not…”

 

They eat pb&j in the kitchen, with Hyunjin propped up on the counter and Changbin wiping up spilled jelly off the floor with one hand while eating his sandwich with the other. It’s a bit juvenile, and it reminds the both of them of their middle school days, but it’s comfortable and familiar and it feels nice. On the way to toss the paper towels in the trash, Hyunjin catches Changbin’s wrist and pulls him back towards himself.

 

He has a weird look in his eye, undecidedly insecure and a bit upset. “Will you forget about me when you go to college?” His voice is at the softest it’s ever been, lips barely moving with the words coming out of them.

Changbin feels like crying kind of, but he doesn't. He squeezes the balled up towel in his fist and forces himself to break eye-contact with Hyunjin. Looking down at his mismatched socks, he swallows nervously. How is he supposed to answer that?

 

“Of course not.” He looks back up. Hyunjin brings a finger up to his mouth and attempts to wipe away a smear of jelly on his lower lip, but misses it.

 

On impulse, Changbin reaches up and wipes it away for him. It’s second nature, considering how messy of an eater Hyunjin is. The younger boy sighs and juts his lip out. “I’m not trying to pressure you, I just…” He looks down at his lap like he’s trying to figure out how to say the next thing. “There’s lots of cooler people at college, y’know?”

 

“How would you know?” Changbin jokes, hoping to lighten the mood and make his friend crack a smile. It looks to only stress the other boy out further. Hyunjin gives him a pointed look, his straight eyebrows furrowed inwards.

 

He knows what that look means, but he doesn’t say anything. He found out a while ago, much to Hyunjin’s initial dismay, that the younger boy’s mysterious friend group from outside of school was actually a group of college guys. Changbin would overhear rumours from his classmates about how supposedly Hyunjin was being tossed around this group of guys like a doll. He chose to believe that the rumours were just that … rumours, and that’s the stance he took on the issue ever since. Regardless of the truth.

 

“You have to promise me that you’ll make loads of friends, but you’ll save that best friend spot open for me.” Hyunjin loosens his grip on Changbin’s wrist and moves his fingers up his palm to lace them between Changbin’s own. He chuckles, and it’s sweet like the raspberry jelly he just ate. “If I show up next year and I have competition… you better believe I’ll never let you win at Monkey Ball.”

 

Changbin scoffs, running his thumb over Hyunjin’s fingers tenderly. “As if. You wouldn’t let me win at Monkey Ball even if you _weren’t_ a dirty cheater.”

 

“I’m so sorry that I’m an intellectual who knows how to work with loopholes.”

 

“Bold of you to assume you’re an intellectual.”

 

Hyunjin pretends to cry for a good thirty seconds before he brings his forehead down to rest on Changbin’s shoulder, muttering insults and other unintelligible things that they both know would get his ass kicked.

 

He turns his head inwards slightly and huffs a sigh into Changbin’s neck, the warm air tickling his skin. They stay like that for a moment, then Hyunjin sits back a little, his lips parted and eyes dancing around the other boy’s face. He’s never looked this unsure before - cheeks flushed and full lips bitten a cherry red. He looks really nice, and it’s confusing. Cautious, he leans forward and presses a light and experimental kiss to Changbin’s lips.

 

As if on cue, the front door unlocks and opens, and Changbin’s dad walks in with an armful of groceries. He doesn’t see the two boys right away, so they take that as a golden opportunity to make everything seem as casual as possible. Meaning - Hyunjin pushes himself off the counter and moves to the other side of the kitchen, pulling out his phone just in case they don’t look like they’re trying really hard to pretend they weren’t just sharing breath.

 

Mr. Seo smiles brightly as he walks into the kitchen, greeting the two of them and handing the bags of groceries to his son to be put away.

 

“Hyunjin! What a pleasant surprise.” He walks over and pats the boy’s shoulder. Hyunjin smiles warmly back at him and puts his phone in his back pocket. “What have you been up to?”

 

Changbin pokes his head out from the pantry, watching the two of them curiously.

 

“Enjoying what’s left of the summer, really. Soaking up the sun and all that.” Hyunjin places his hands on his hips and leans back against the counter.

 

Mr. Seo beams, then leaves to bustle around the main floor of the house, asking all kinds of questions as he goes. One being if Hyunjin has a girlfriend yet. The boy in question looks at Changbin with a pleading expression, who then comes to his rescue.

 

“Hyunjin’s focusing on his studies, dad.”

 

Changbin’s dad says something back from his office, but Changbin and Hyunjin are already booking it up the stairs back into his bedroom.

 

Once there, he closes the door and takes a deep breath. Hyunjin sits on the end of his bed and picks up his controller once again, turning it around in his hands.

 

“Should I ask why you kissed me or should we pretend it didn’t happen.”

 

Hyunjin leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He turns his face to look at his friend but doesn’t particularly look thrilled about the question. “Go ahead.”

 

“Why did you kiss me?”

 

The other boy sits up straight again, restlessly. He doesn’t reply for a little bit, but when he decides he’s ready, he stands up and walks towards Changbin. “I wanted you to know how I felt before summer was over and you left for school.”

 

“That was pretty brave of you.” He feels his feet pulling him towards Hyunjin, and before he knows it he’s sitting next to him, holding his hand again. “You do know I’ll literally only be thirty minutes away, though? My phone will still work at college too.” He laughs, squeezing his friend’s hand a little tighter. Hyunjin feels the pressure and lets it ground him.

 

“Also, I wish you would’ve done something sooner. Then we could’ve been doing this the entire summer.”

 

Hyunjin brings his palm up to his forehead, covering his eyes from a newfound embarrassment. He wish he could be more confident about this, but somehow all his years of cockiness and defiance have gone to waste.

 

“But…” Changbin talks a lot when he’s nervous. Remembering this fact makes Hyunjin feels a lot better about his own nerves. “I thought you were, um, preoccupied with other things.”

 

By things, he meant the college boys.

 

Anxious and frantic, Hyunjin spoke up. “It’s not true, I swear. When I first heard about it I was so fucking mad, but no one would believe the guy who the rumour was about. Of course _he_ would try to cover it up.”

 

He and Changbin look at each other in silence until the other boy picks up on what he’s hinting at. Then, he looks down at their hands with a small frown.

 

“It spread so fast too. I joined their dance team as the only high school student, but I guess I should’ve thought about how everyone else would see it on the outside.” In the moment of stark silence, Changbin was ready to console Hyunjin, but then the boy began to chuckle like he just told a stupid joke.

 

“It looked really bad, didn’t it…” He groans, though still laughing into his palm. “The fucking dance studio looked like an abandoned warehouse from the outside - it totally looked like I was secretly getting it from a group of college dudes.”

 

Changbin pulls him closer and lets the taller boy bury his face in his shoulder, despite the awkward height difference. He nodded. “Yeah, man.” His heart started to flutter just a little more than usual. “I think it was mostly just the amount of guys people saw you with, honestly. Maybe the implication made whoever started the rumour shit their pants.”

 

“You didn’t even blink when that fucker from fifth period told you. I thought for sure once you heard it you’d drop me.”

 

 _Ah_ , Changbin thinks, _Felix_. Considering the kid was smart enough to be in a seniors econ class, he sure was stupid enough to tell Changbin a rumour about his own best friend. Funnily enough, Hyunjin and Changbin used to be really close to him.

“Nah. I’d never be able to get rid of you that easy.”

 

Their laughter fades slowly, and their interest redirects itself once again. It feels like some amount of time has passed, but the two of them are so caught up in being each other’s first kiss, it feels more like time has paused. This time around, as Hyunjin catches Changin’s bottom lip between his own, there’s no air of uncertainty - only giddiness.

 

They lean against each other, shoulders pressed together like a lacklustre support system.

 

“Wanna stay for dinner?”

 

“Hm, a romantic spaghetti dinner with your parents.. How could I refuse.”

 

Changbin slapped his shoulder so hard that a bird sitting on a branch outside his window flew off in panic.


End file.
